


There Isn’t Music Without You

by TheCloakedFlea



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: ALL THE ANGST, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Band Fic, Friendship, Hurt Julie Molina, protective bandmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26934247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCloakedFlea/pseuds/TheCloakedFlea
Summary: The boys weren’t expecting a crying Flynn to show up at the studio, and what she says rocks them to the core.
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Carlos Molina & Julie Molina & Ray Molina, Flynn & Julie Molina, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 47
Kudos: 456





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, I’ve had a lot of stuff going on in my personal life, so to distract myself I decided to write a little (angsty) fic. If you’re interested in there being a second part please let me know.

Luke felt fuzzy. His head was pounding and if he was actually alive and had food in his stomach he’d be nausea. He couldn’t focus on anything, his vision blurry from what he assumed were tears given the circumstances but he wasn’t entirely sure because he was rooted to the couch.

“There was an accident.” 

That was all Flynn had to say as she entered the studio, checks wet and voice shaking. She still couldn’t see them, but as if she knew they’d be there waiting on Julie she spoke out loud to the open room. Reggie tensed up beside him, Alex was on his feet but not making any movement, a deep caught in the headlights.

“She’s stable,” Flynn said with a shaky breath, “But it’s not looking good. She’d in surgery right now.”

Luke wanted to scream, to cry, to do something human. But he felt numb, he felt cold. It was almost as if any sense of warmth was slowly seeping out of him at the prospect of Julie being injured…or worse.

Alex made his way over near where Flynn was standing in the center of the studio, and Luke could see the boy was crying too, as he unclipped his fanny pack from around his torso and dropped it to the floor, Flynn’s eyes immediately dropping down to it.

“Alex,” she breathed out looking in the direction the fanny pack dropped from.  
Reggie was on his feet next, moving over to the piano towards Luke’s journal that was still open from earlier. The pen moved across the paper, the sound of his writing being the only things filling up the empty space. Flynn slowly approached the moving pen to read what Reggie had been writing.

“What happened? Where is she?” She read out the words before taking a deep breath. 

Luke didn’t know if he actually wanted to know. Part of him thought knowing she was hurt was torture enough because he couldn’t do anything to take away the pain she felt, but another part knew that he needed to know because if he could be a sliver of help he needs to.

“School was getting out for the day,” Flynn started sucking in a breath as she sat on the piano bench to steady herself. Luke noted the girl was shaking, almost as if a quest of wind could push her over.

“We were walking through the parking lot to meet up with Ray when,” Flynn swallowed hard, “Out of nowhere this car, whipped around the corner and was going to fast to stop in time.”

Each word seemed to physically pain the girl as she talked about the incident. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together, but neither Luke, Reggie, nor Alex dare spoke. What was there to say?

“It just slammed into her, I tried to grab her wrist to pull her back but I was,” A sob broke out of Flynn’s lips as her head dropped into her hands, “I was too late.”

The girl’s cries filled the air and soon Luke felt a presence at his side but his vision was still glued forward at the piano- Julie’s Piano. Just this morning she had walked in and told them how she had a perfect song for their next set, eyeing the piano as she spoke. The excitement that filled Luke had stayed with him most of the day, right up until Flynn walked into the studio and Julie did not.

“I, uh,” Flynn said after a moment, standing up quickly, “I need to be getting home. I told Ray, I told Ray he could just drop me off here when he picked up Carlos. But,” each word that came out of Flynn’s mouth was heavy like she had to force it out with all her remaining strength. “If you guys, want to go see her, the ambulance was going to Los Angeles General.

With that Flynn left, quickly rushing out of the studio leaving the boys grappling with her words in her wake. Without exchanging a single word, each boy poofed out of the garage and into the Hospital’s parking lot. 

Staring up at the building, the towering mass of concrete standing tall against the pale blue sky, the silence was broken.

“I don’t know if I can go in there,” Alex said, his voice small. “I don’t know if I can see her like that.”

“We have to,” Luke said, trying to keep the heavily increasing emotions at bay. “Julie would do it for us.”

“And we’ll do it together,” Reggie said taking Luke’s hand in his, “as a band.” Quickly Luke’s hand found Alex’s, and then the boys poofed into the waiting room. 

The boys spotted Ray and Carlos almost instantly, huddled together in the back corner of the waiting room whispering softly. Both of their eyes were puffy, and both seemed to be doing all in their power to not look anywhere but at each other.

That’s when Luke realized the last time they must have been in the hospital was when they lost Julie’s mom, and know they were subject to the fear that their daughter and sister might meet that same fate. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that such a good and loving family like the Molina’s had to go through this again. Be subject to the same amount of pain.

Luke Alex and Reggie each found their own chairs, all beside each other, and settled in for the unforeseeable future. They wouldn’t be leaving Julie or each other any time soon. They had messed up one time and hadn’t been there for Julie, and they wouldn’t make that mistake again. Not now, not ever.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With little updates, Luke, Reggie, Alex and the men of the Molina family anxiously wait in the hospital waiting room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Thank you for all the love on the first part. I genuinely wasn't planning on making this more than a one-shot, but if you all want more you got it! Feel free to leave some ideas and suggestions in the comment as well as if you are enjoying the story.

The setting sun cast the hospital waiting room in an orange-yellow tint, and if it had been under different circumstances it might even qualify as pretty. But nothing during these circumstances could be anything other than tolerable. Not for Luke, or Reggie and Alex, or the Molina family as a whole.

There had been little updates, nurses and doctors moving like molasses as they entered and exited the waiting room to deliver heart-shattering or life-saving news for everyone except the group of five, while only technically two were visible, sitting in the back corner.

It was painful, to watch Ray and Carlos’ eyes dart over to every emerging nurse or doctor, silently begging them to walk in their direction with an update on Julie, ultimately to be let down when they walked to another family. To Luke, it felt like the doctors and nurses were purposefully avoiding the Molina family’s gaze, but that could have just been because the most important person to him’s fate was still uncertain.

Each of the boys and Molinas were handling their prolonged waiting period differently. Ray sat solid, like a statue, his eyes only moving momentarily from the double doors, which lead deeper into the hospital, and nurses station to his son, to make sure Carlos was doing alright. The father's face was full of worry, and every so often he would mumble words of reassurance softly. Luke couldn’t figure out if they were for Carlos or himself.

Carlos looked so young, practically curled into his father’s side as much as he could with the armrest of one of the chairs separating them. His cheeks were moist with tears and he looked less vibrant then the mischievous boy Luke, Reggie, and Alex had come to know. He was always so worried about protecting his sister, being the man of the house, and Luke could relate with how powerless it felt to be sitting in the waiting room unable to protect her.

Reggie had positioned himself across from Ray and next to Luke. He hadn’t spoken much, but he’d ask Luke a question every now and then, He kept rubbing his hands together, his eyes mostly glued on the repetitive motion. Sometimes the questions were simple, “Do you think Ray and Carlos have eaten?”, and other times they weren’t so simple.

_“What if what I said to her was the last thing I ever said to her”, “I can’t remember if I gave her a hug before she went to school today, did I?”, “Do you think she knew what was happening?”, “Do you think she felt it?”_

Each question cut Luke deep, a mirror to his own racing thoughts. He did his best to answer what he could, but sometimes he couldn’t bring himself to speak. His throat felt like sandpaper, and even when he did answer Reggie his words came out scratchy and made him wince.

Alex was always in motion. His anxiety and the train of thought did not allow him to sit still for long. When he was sitting beside Luke he was bouncing his leg up and down, looking around trying to concentrate on something, anything other than where they were. When he wasn’t sitting, he was pacing, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth trying to force down the watery tears that raced across his cheeks sporadically.

Luke wasn’t sure how he had found them, but soon Willie materialized in the room and sat with Alex for some time. They talked in hushed tones, so close to one another that their foreheads were almost touching. Then when words weren’t enough, Willie scooped Alex up into a tight embrace and held him while he cried into his shoulder.

Then there was Luke. Luke felt numb. He felt tired. He felt like his heart was beating in slow motion. He felt like his world was unraveling in his fingers right before his eyes and all he could do was watch it fall apart.

Julie, the ever radiant and bright light that sparked into his life when he didn’t realize he needed her, the one that allowed the boy's passion to reignite and be shared with the world all over again. She was his melody, his muse, and his motivation – and as he sat in the waiting room feeling crushed by the looming possibility that her flame had flickered out he realized he had never spoken any of those words aloud to her before.

He never told her, that his favorite sound wasn’t the music they played, but the way her laugh seemed to float around the room even after it had crossed her lips. How he could watch her play the piano or write music all day and never get bored. How her voice had somehow welded itself into his brain, and she was the voice of reason and control that helped regulate his chaos.

He never told her that every song he had written since the Orpheum had been about her.

The thought of her never hearing these things was crushing. The thought of her never singing to him again made him not want to ever pick up a pen or instrament - because without her there wasn’t a point to make music anymore.

Luke needed air, needed something that wasn’t the suffocating sadness that came with sterile waiting rooms, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave. Reggie had shifted in his chair so that he was resting his head on Luke’s shoulder, and as Willie poofed out of the room Alex came over to rejoin them. They had each other, but a puzzle piece was missing.

“Dad,” Carlos’s voice rose slightly as both the patriarch of the Molina family and the three phantoms sitting across from the pair’s attention moved to an older woman with a clipboard approaching them.

Her face was unreadable, but her stride directly to them made each and everyone one of them stand in anticipation.

“I presume you are the family of Julie Molina,” She asked, her voice having a slight southern twang as she spoke but that was the least of any of their concerns. 

Ray nodded his head, “I’m her father, how is she?” His words rushed out and were filled with desperation and the nurse gave him a tight-lipped smile.

“Stable, finally,” The doctor said, “I’m Dr. Remi Moore. It was touch and go for a while sir, but as of right now she is stable.”

Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, but the way the doctor’s face didn’t shift in the slightest lead Luke and soon everyone else to realize she wasn’t done speaking.

“Can we go see her?” Carlos asked, and the docter’s smile softened slightly, but she didn’t shifter her attention from Ray.

“Mr. Molina, seeing Julie now might now be the best idea,” She started her eyes dipping down to the clipboard in her hand before rising to meet Rays again. Luke didn't care, as soon as he knew her room number he'd be by her side and there would be no stopping him. 

“As you were aware," The doctor continued, "Julie’s accident was very serious. She is hooked up to many machines right now, as well as…“

The doctor's words trailed off as her gaze shifted to Carlos for the first time. The boy who was trying to be so brave at his father's side. Tears were rolling down his cheeks in waves, but he didn’t dare look away. Reggie hovered right behind him, his face portraying how desperately he wanted to rest a hand on the young boy's shoulder, but couldn’t for fear that it would pass right through.

“As well as what Doctor,” Ray said, his voice catching in his throat.

“She,” The doctor started, trying to regain the more professional composure, “Julie is in a coma.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys, Ray, and Carlos finally go see Julie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I'm being honest this chapter isn't my favorite - but boy oh boy do I have big plans for the next one. Think of this more as a filler chapter, a filler chapter filled with angst.

The boys hadn’t understood the severity of Julie’s injuries until the doctor began to describe them to Ray in a hushed tone, each item on the list felt like a knife to the heart.

She had deep scrapes and bruises all over her body and face, but unfortunately, it went much deeper than that. She had dislocated her left wrist, her right leg was broken, as well as three of her ribs. One of her ribs had punctured her right lung, resulting in her needing to be aided by a machine to breathe, as well as some internal bleeding that worried doctors severely. The most pressing concern was the coma though. The accident had resulted in her brain swelling, meaning her coma could last from 24-48 hours, a few days, or longer.

It wasn’t a surprise hearing about his daughter's condition that would cause Ray to feel faint, spurring him to sit down and drop his head into his hands. No one could judge him for taking a moment to the situation overwhelm him. His daughter was in a coma, a little over a year ago his wife had passed. The boys watched as Carlos’s gaze darted back and forth from his father to the doctor, trying to figure out what was best to do in the situation.

Luke had to turn his head away to keep himself from breaking down at the sight of Ray though. Luke had never had the best relationship with his parents, but he knew they cared about him regardless. He didn’t like to think about how _that night_ went for his mother and father, how they may have reacted to finding out he had died. 

Alex seemed preoccupied with the string on his hoodie, most likely thinking the same thing as Luke. Neither Luke, Reggie, or Alex had had the best relationships with their parents, nowhere near as special as Julie and her fathers. Reggie stood in between Carlos and Ray, and it was becoming quite clear to Luke how frustrating not being able to console the man that had become, even if it was one side, a friend to him.

“Dad?” Carlos asked tentatively, “I need to see Julie. Please.”

His son’s request was what caused Ray to look up, and clear his throat. It was clear there was an inner turmoil going on for the father, debating if he should let his son see his sister in the state she was in. But how could Ray deny his son that simple request after spending so long agonizing in the waiting room? With a sigh, the man nodded his head and turned to the Doctor.

“Could you please take us to her room?” Ray asked. It was impossible to ignore how hard he must be fighting to keep it all together for his son and wordlessly the doctor nodded before motioning for the two, and subsequently three ghosts, to follow her out through the double doors and deeper into the hospital.

After a brief walk and a short elevator ride, all of which Luke, Reggie, and Alex were subjected to because Julie’s room number hadn’t been shared yet, the group came to a stop outside a door that was labeled 523. The Doctor turned to Ray and Carlos, looking down at the clipboard one more time to make sure they were outside the right room, before speaking.

“If you need anything there is a red nurse call button on the bed, or you can come to the nurse's station,” She stopped momentarily afterward, before adding, “Julie is in good hands here, my team and I are going to do all we can.”

Ray thanked her before she walked away, leaving just father and son standing outside the door. They seemed to hesitate, almost if they forgot how to raise their hands to open the door.

"You sure about this Carlos," Ray asked, and after getting the go ahead from his son he raised a shaking hand to the silver nob and pushed open the door slowly.

The first thing that caught Luke’s eye was the sunset through the two windows in the room. It was yellow and pink and everything Julie would have loved. If they were home, he and the boys would be dragged through the studio doors to drink in the beauty of it, her amazement would leave him grinning the rest of the day.

Then he saw her, and he felt any walls he had built come crashing down with a watery, "No."

He didn't want to believe his eyes, but he knew not even his worse nightmare could have predicted how she looked. The hospital bed made her appear so small and fragile, and if it weren’t for the rhythmic beating of the heart monitor he would have sworn she was dead. There was a tube running down her neck that was doing the breathing for her, one of her legs was suspended in mid-air and was wrapped in a cast, and there were scratches, deep and thin, all over her face and arms. 

If Reggie hadn’t been right beside him Luke knew he would have collapsed to the floor. Sure he had been trying to prepare himself for seeing her, but now that he was in the same room as her he was having trouble holding himself together. The girl he cared so deeply about, motionless and fighting for her life. 

The three boys watched Ray cautiously approach Julie. Pausing at her bedside to brush back the hair from her face, letting his hand linger on her cheek. His little girl, his pride and joy.

"How did this happen?" Ray mumbled to himself as he kneeled down beside her bed and took the one non-bandaged hand in his. Luke was surprised the man hadn’t run out of tears yet, as the man began to cry once more.

Carlos seemed to hang back a moment, blinking as he forced himself to breathe in an out. Even now, he was trying to be strong for her, be the man of the family and not give his dad another thing to worry about. He made his way over to his father's side soon after, sitting on the floor next to him and resting his head on his shoulder. 

Alex was the next to move, slowly walking around to the side of the bed opposite of Ray and Carlos. He stood for a moment, looking down at Julie before it got to be too much and he had to move over to the window.

“She can’t die,” He said, voice full of fear his face was refusing to show as he kept his gaze out on the setting sun. “It’s not fair, she did nothing wrong. We are ghosts because of our own mistakes. She didn’t…she can’t…” Alex didn’t get to finish his sentiment as sobs took over. He dropped to the floor, moving so his back was against the wall as he pulled his knees tightly up to his chest and sobbed into them.

Reggie looked frantically between Luke and Reggie. Finally he decided to ease Luke down into a chair, the same horrified look having never left Luke's face, and then poofed over to Alex and began rubbing his knee comforting.

“You need to have faith,” Reggie said in a low tone, “She’s strong, she’s going to pull through.”

“You don’t know that,” Luke said with his voice full of sorrow as he looked over at Julie and her family.

What he would give for her to open her eyes, to smile at him, and tell him she was okay. He’d trade places with her in a heartbeat, give his life (if he still had one) for her in an instant. She didn’t deserve this pain, the Molina’s didn’t deserve this pain.

“You’re right,” Reggie said with an exhale, “I don’t _know_ she is going to be okay, but I believe that she wouldn’t stop fighting for a second. She loves us and her family too much for that.”

Luke couldn’t muster the strength to respond. Instead, he just stood up, walked to where the other boys were on the floor, and sat down beside them. Allowing the steady beeps of the heart monitor to be the only sound to fill the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie wakes up, but for some reason no one can see or hear her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is a POV shift in this chapter, and I would love to hear if you think I should continue to bounce between POVs or if you favored one over the other. Thank you again for all the love on this story - each Kudo and comment means the world. Here is chapter 4!

Julie didn’t know where she was. It was cold. It was dark. She was alone. Fear coursed through her veins as she realized she was in a hospital gown. Slowly she started to walk, with no guidance or clear destination – hoping she was going in the right direction.

Then she saw it, a small light that continued to grow substantially as she got closer. It got bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and soon it engulfed her.

Julie then found herself stumbling out of light into a hallway, a hospital hallway. There were nurses in scrubs rushing back and forth, beeping all around her, and Julie felt her stomach churning. She didn’t know why she was here, but it was clear that something really bad had happened.

Slowly she walked up to the nurses' station, stopping right in front of a young woman behind the computer.

“Hello?” she asked hesitantly, clearing her throat, which sounded like it hadn’t been used in years, “I need some help.”

The nurse didn't look up, just continued to type away on her keyboard. Julie assumed it was because the nurse hadn’t heard her, so she spoke again, and again she was ignored.

Julie then witnessed another Nurse walk up the station and the nurse who Julie had thought was ignoring her's eyes darted up and she shot her coworker a dazzling smile. As the two conversed something felt off, and Julie started to realize the reason why people may not be able to see her.

_But she couldn’t be dead, could she?_

Julie began to race back down the hall she came, eyes darting to each name next to each room, praying not to see hers. Praying that this was just a bad dream. Maybe if she could find that light, or even that darkroom again she could find a way to wake up.

She came to a stop when something small caught her eyes down the hall. There was a figure sitting on the floor, hugging their knees to their chest. She took a few hesitant steps forward, sucking in a breath as the figure became more and more familiar. She stopped in her tracks when the figure lifted his head up, a familiar set of eyes glancing up and down the hallway.

“Carlos?” Julie breathed out. Against her will, her eyes fluttered up to the door grimacing slightly as she saw the name _Molina_ right next to it. That was something she’d handle later, but right now her attention was on her brother, who was wiping a few stray tears away on the back of his hand.

Julie slid down the wall next to him, wanting to touch him but not willing to deal with the possibility that she could fall right through him as she had seen the boys do on occasion. She sat beside him as he wiped and wiped the tears away, breathing in and out deep breaths. She hadn't seen her brother cry in a while, not since their mother passed, and more than anything she wanted to reach over and comfort him.

She felt the presence of someone else, and Julie threw a quick look over her shoulder. He hovered in the open doorway looking down at the boy, his own eyes rimmed red. There was Reggie, sniffling in all his leather jacket glory.

“Reggie oh my god,” Julie said jumping to her feet, but the instant she stood a hand flew up to her mouth to try and conceal a sob. Reggie looked directly through her at her brother. He couldn’t see her, he didn't know she was there.

“No! No this-“ Julie said scratching her head in vain, “No you should be able to see me. You see other ghosts - if I’m dead why can't you see me!” She stammered out in alarm as Reggie walked towards her brother crouching down to look at him.

“Hey,” Reggie said in a comforting tone, “Look, Carlos. I know you can’t hear me, but I need you to know you’re sister loves you very much. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that she is fighting to get back here to you, to all of us.”

“BUT I AM HERE!” Julie yelled, crying heavily and begging for someone to see or hear her.

Carlos took a few more breaths before he stood up slowly, sniffling once more before walking into the room completely unaware of the other two presences in the hallway. Julie watched him go and watched Reggie follow him back into the room. She stalled in the hallway, debating if she really wanted to go into the room where her body most likely laid.

After a few minutes, she forced herself to enter the hospital room. There was something so surreal about the scene in front of her, although initially her eyes were pulled to the window. The sky was a dark inky color, the bright lights inside the room causing the interior to be reflected on the windows panes. Two chairs appeared empty in the window's reflection, but Julie could see two ghosts huddled closely together on them in the room herself, although she found it hard to look at Alex and Reggie since she knew they couldn't see her.

Her father sat on the hospital bed talking in a hushed tone to the body on the bed. A body that she knew was hers, but she couldn’t actually grasp that fact because while the heart monitor beeped indicating she was alive, she had to be dead because no one could see or hear her. Although Luke, Reggie, and Alex couldn’t see her either, so Julie realized she couldn’t really be dead then either.

Julie walked closer to the bed, a breath getting caught in her throat as she looked down at her unconscious body. She wanted to gag at all the tubes coming out of her, she could almost feel the one going down her throat choking her. The sight of the cast on her leg and her hand caused phantom pains to shoot through her body.

She didn’t remember much of the accident, just the before. Stepping out into the parking lot. Flynn screaming. The blaring of the horn.

Julie suddenly began to get overwhelmed, an anxiety attack grabbing hold of her. Seeing herself all battered and bruised as well as the looks of concern and pain on all her family’s face, it was almost more than she could handle. Julie could feel her pulse racing and that it was getting harder to breathe.

Her feelings were being replicated on her unconscious body, Julie realized as she was forced to helplessly watch the rise and fall of the heart monitor pick up at an alarming rate. All sets of eyes, ghost or not, darted to the unconscious body as more and more alarms starting to go off.

“DAD DO SOMETHING!” Carlos yelled out of fear, as Ray ran from the room screaming for help. Medical professional swarmed the room, pushing Carlos out to Ray who Julie caught wrapping the boy in a hug as the door shut.

Since no one could see Luke, Reggie, or Alex they stayed put staring in horror at the number of doctors and nurses that surrounded Julie, trying to figure out what was wrong.

“HELP HER GOD DAMN IT!” Luke screamed jumping to his feet, Alex grabbing at his arm, “WHY AREN’T THEY DOING ANYTHING TO HELP HER?“

He continued to scream until Alex stood, forcing Luke into his arms as Luke sobbed into Alex's chest. Panic consumed every one of his senses. Luke felt so useless, so helpless.

Julie watched a nurse inject her body with something, most likely a sedative, and she felt herself calming down instantly as the heart monitor began to drop to a normal rate. All Julie could hear was the beating of her own heart and Luke’s sobs. The doctors and nurses surrounding her body spoke to each other about what could have caused her body's reaction in hushed worried tones.

One nurse disappeared out the door causing Julie to follow her. She listened as the nurse told her father and brother that the medical team was going to run some more tests on Julie and that they should go home and rest for the evening. Ray began to protest, but after looking at how shaken Carlos was he thanked her and the two Molina's left after casting one more look at the room.

As Julie walked back in, she noticed a few more of the doctors had left, leaving one doctor and nurse to check over her vitals and write things on a clipboard. She also noticed her boys had gotten closer to her body, Luke sitting in a chair right next to her head, Alex next to him, and Reggie on the bed where her father once was.

“Julie,” Luke said weakly, his eyes darting to her hand but not moving to pick it up due to the other people in the room. “Julie I don’t know if you can hear me, but we’re here. Me, Alex, Reggie. We’re all here.” He started to cry, shallow breaths taking the place words had momentarily before he pushed on. 

“I'm so scared Julie. We’re _all_ so scared we’re gonna lose you. So you need to fight okay? We’re not going anywhere any time soon, but you need to fight for us. You need to wake up.”

“You’re the best thing that happened to us Julie,” Alex said through tears of his own, “and I know when you do wake up it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be hard for a little bit but we’re going to be there for you. We’ll be there through every step of your recovery.”

“There is so much left for us to do - like you haven’t learned to fiddle yet,” Reggie said with a sad, small smile as he remembered the conversation they had so early on in their friendship, “Screw horses though, home is where you are Julie. YOU are our new home now. Please come back to us.”

“I want to,” Julie said through her tears across the bed from her band, “I don’t know how but I will, I promise.”

And it was a promise she didn’t intend on breaking any time soon. She didn’t know how she was going to do it, but Julie knew she would do whatever it took to wake up and be with her boys again.


End file.
